


A Helping Hand

by littlesolo



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-21
Updated: 2015-09-22
Packaged: 2018-04-10 10:43:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 6,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4388738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlesolo/pseuds/littlesolo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Various events from Alana and Margot's point of view</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Alana goes in first.  

With all of Mason’s men dead, it’s now the two of them against him and it finally feels like they’re on even footing.  For once, she’s holding all the cards.  

Except she isn’t.  She had forgotten about the gun in Mason’s hand.  The one pointed at Alana.  

Alana knows more about guns than she does, or at least is more comfortable around them.  Margot had seen her tranq the guard Mason had watching Hannibal without hesitation, without more than a glance really.  Alana had also told Margot of that night with Hannibal, when he had removed the bullets from her gun.  She had still had the presence of mind to search her purse for another clip.  

When Margot lunges for the gun, she’s only thinking of Alana.  Alana who has helped her shape her plans into one that Mason didn’t see coming.  The psychiatrist who has come to mean so much to her.  Alana who probably knew a better way to get the gun away.  

They’re wrestling for it when it goes off and the bullet goes into Mason’s beloved eel tank.  Mason has always been strong and has a firm grip on her blouse, holding her under with him.  Her mind flickers briefly to her baby.  Even as he struggles, Mason does his best to take her with him.  If he can’t win, fine, but there’s no way he’ll let her without a fight.  

But then there’s a hand under her arm and pulling her back up, and free of her brother.  Margot is gasping for breath, her wet hair in her face, and her hands feeling almost numb.  Alana’s hand on top of hers, helping to hold Mason’s head under, anchors her to what’s happening.  From the moment she saw the pig nursery, everything has seemed surreal.  That was her baby.  Mason let him grow just enough to be a possibility, to be real, and then pulled the plug.  This?  This feels like a dream mixed into yet another nightmare that she can’t believe is actually coming true.  

It’s not so much them holding Mason down as it is his prized pet that kills him.  The pet he’s threatened her with and pondered feeding pieces of Hannibal to.  it seizes the tongue in Mason’s throat and after a few vigorous motions, it continues down his throat and blood floats to the top.  

* * *

When it’s over, really over, both Alana and Margot sit back and catch their breath.  The cold begins to seep in as Alana asks if she’s alright.  Margot absently nods and does her best to lift herself up, knowing that it still must be hard for her.  She watches, somewhat dazed, as Alana scatters Hannibal’s hair from Mason’s chair towards the edge of the tank and sets the vial in the storage container to keep it cool and safe.  She idly thinks that Alana needn’t have bothered with the tranquilizer since Hannibal’s probably killed the guard just like everyone else there.

Alana then helps guide her back to her room where she changes into something more casual.  

Now all that’s left to deal with is her baby….


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alana and the end of Mason

Alana has no trouble seeing Mason Verger as an abusive person.  His hunt for Hannibal was more than enough of an indication as to what type of person he was.  

Still, one might not see it when it came to his treatment of his sister.  Mason’s detached and formal, yet often gloating tone was usually unsettling enough, and then there was the fact that Margot had mastered schooling her features years ago.  It wasn’t like she flinched anymore anyway.  

Since his last run in with Hannibal and Will, Margot was the face that their Italian friends, and most people for that matter, dealt with even though it was Mason signing the checks.  For now, Mason didn’t antagonize his sister as much since she was so very useful.  At least in the presence of company.  Mason let his violent side show when he brainstormed meal ideas with Cordell or talked of his plans for the men upon their capture.  Despite his focus on business when she was present, when the siblings were in the room together, there was an undercurrent between the two that had Alana suppressing a shiver at times.  

Thinking back, Margot had warned her from the beginning.  “ _If my brother offers you chocolate, politely refuse._ ”  But it had been even before that, hadn’t it?  When they’d first met, she’d asked Margot to let her brother know she’d arrived.  “ _Oh, he knows_.”  Later, Margot would demand that she stay away from the barn, especially if her brother wanted to show her his pigs.  

Alana hadn’t asked, but Margot had explained the eight inch scar across her abdomen as they both got dressed after the first time they’d been intimate.  The story had been horrific, but what had struck Alana was how Margot’s voice was devoid of emotion while she told it.  Alana suspects that Margot is done with tears, especially somewhere where there’s a chance Mason might notice.  She also is willing to bet that despite how much he’s devoting to Hannibal, tormenting his sister will be his favorite hobby.  Mason had told her of his initial plans for Hannibal and Will as well.  Man eating pigs.  She suddenly understood why Margot had been so adamant that she stay clear of the barn.  She’s able to contain her displeasure as he tells her about them, thankfully never offering to show her first hand.  “So  _that_  plan didn’t go like it was supposed to, but the pigs certainly did  _their_  part!  I had Carlo cremated and sent back to his family but honestly, you’d get more out of an ashtray!  He knew what he was doing though!” says Mason one afternoon with a laugh as Alana trails after his chair and onto the terrace.  

The history of mason’s abuse is written across Margot’s skin and how carefully she collects herself when around him and those he employs.  It’s a constant reminder of how their relationship can be used against them, but Alana knows she’s already in too deep.  

Walking into that nursery had made it all real.  Her first glimpse of it all in person.  The scars on Margot’s back had faded and become apart of her, her past, and that’s how Margot treated them.  The one across her stomach was still new despite the time that’s past, but Margot has begun to ignore it.  The scars are not all Alana sees when she looks at Margot and she doesn’t push despite her occasional curiosity.  

Still, the nursery, full of red light from the heating lamps with the pig front and center on display…no wonder Mason hadn’t been baiting his sister.  With this literally waiting in the wings, it was just a matter of when she found it.  

Eventually, the whine of the monitors reaches her ears and she moves to see if there’s a chance the baby is alive.  She’s doubtful, but her instincts as a doctor are all that are grounding her now.  Alana remembers her medical training but a pig is very different from a person.  Thankfully Margot comes out of her stupor and is able to talk her through it, having assisted when one of her horses was pregnant.  She carefully hands the baby boy over to his mother and stands next to them.  

The boy is such a small thing.  She watches Margot cry for the first time, her mascara running down her face.  Alana moves them out of the room before Margot breaks down completely, her eyes catching the pig mobile as she pulls the door closed.  In Margot’s room, Alana helps her cleans the baby off with a wash cloth and then wraps him in one of the soft towels.  She leaves the mother and still born when she hears Mason waking in the other room.  

“Your surrogate, Margot.  I promised I’d give you a Verger baby” says Mason with a snarling laugh and blood covering his face.  Having deliverd his crushing blow, he doesn’t care if Alana sees who he really is when it comes to his sister.  Will had told her she’d need to spill blood.  

Alana doesn’t hesitate.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tbc?


	3. Holes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The burial

The ground feels like rock as she digs.  Margot mentally rolls her eyes.  Coming into the world hadn’t been easy, why should putting him to rest be any different?

Margot does the digging because after helping her wrestle Mason and the additional stress of dealing with Jack Crawford and the FBI, Alana has to be exhausted.  Then there’s the fact that despite her son being in a coffin, she doesn’t want him to be alone.  There is no one she trusts more. She peels off her coat and continues digging, her jeans, boots, and jacket keeping her warm as she sweats.  

The spot is in the woods, along one of the trails that she takes with her horses, one of the few places she’s ever felt safe at home.  They had attached a sleigh to one of her horses and secured the coffin to it.  Alana’s arms around her waist as they rode up giving her the strength to finish this.  

It’s snowing, not hard yet, but it will soon.  The snow gives the estate the appearance of innocence and peace, something that has never been present, especially after the recent slaughter that has most of the house taped off.  This is what has those pesky thoughts bugging her.  Hannibal has been captured but can a cell really hold him for long?  Will she be holding another funeral for Alana?  Hannibal’s threat hadn’t been lost on her, no matter how much Alana tried to down play it.  Will the son they plan to have be spared or will she be burying another child?  She hadn’t been able to protect this child...

The baby remains Baby Verger.  When Margot tries to think of a name, all she can picture is Mason holding that piglet bundled in a baby blanket.   _Pavlov_.  It’s the first name that comes to mind.  There are millions of other names to choose from but the only other name that pops up is Jonah.  It had been a pig not a whale, but even so, she'd never name him that anyway. Alana had talked to Jack Crawford and the baby would be left out of any reports.  Burying him here rather than in a Verger plot would keep him as safe as she could make him.  She’d never had a chance to protect him from Mason, but she could keep him from being associated with the Verger name or from being featured on Tattle Crime.  It would be as if he never existed, and in some ways he hadn’t.  He hadn’t cried or taken a breath, she’d never even heard his heart beat.  

The horses had been her safe haven of sorts, Papa having explained their value as an investment to Mason, Margot also being present at the time.  The added bonus of using them as a lure when the children attended the camp would come later.  Papa had given the horses to Margot to keep her occupied and keep her from trailing after him while he’d been trying to teach Mason.  She might have ridden competitively if it hadn’t been for Mason.  Torn rotator cuff, broken collar bone, just a few of her injuries from when she was younger that kept her off her horse for periods of time.  

Margot lets out a long breath as she shakes herself free of the memories.  It’s almost hard to believe, too good to be true even, but he really is gone.  She and Alana will raise their child without constantly worrying about Mason causing the baby harm or influencing and corrupting him.  

Finally, the hole is deeper than the shovel, deep enough to protect him from animals and the elements.  Alana gives her a hand up.  She’s been doing that a lot lately.  If not for her, Margot isn’t sure she could do this.  Any of this. They push the dirt on top the grave, leaving no marker.  It’s a spot they’ll both remember.  

Alana’s hand in hers, giving a gentle squeeze reminds her that whatever comes next they will be doing together and it helps her breathe easier.  They go back to the horse.  Once he’s back in the stables they’ll go back to Alana’s home and curl up together.  Whatever comes next can wait a while.  


	4. A New Era

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moving on.

The transition to a life without Mason is hard but it frustrates Margot more than anything.  

When the house settles at night, there are always creaks and pops, but Margot still spins and flinches and then curses herself for doing so.  It makes her blood boil.  It wasn’t as if Jack Crawford had told her of Mason’s death, she’d seen and been the cause of it!  She knows that there’s no way Mason is still lurking, yet she feels like he’s haunting the house.  

Margot does her best to channel her anxiety and nerves into areas where she is more confident.  For so long, Margot had been kept out of business affairs, having the “wrong parts” for that sort of thing.  Her habit of being cautious when going around corners and checking over her shoulder in her own home had been engrained over years.  The same years that Margot had dedicated to an education in business.  She excelled and made deans list but to hear Papa and Mason tell it, women were necessary on those lists for statistical reasons and political correctness.  

She takes over the Verger business seamlessly.  

At least until their son is old enough to.  Margot hires people she trusts and who know their craft.  

“You know, some are going to think that you will continue the Verger way doing things” mentioned one of the board members on a conference call.  Alana is with Margot in her new office.  

“Let them.  They’ll see otherwise soon enough” answers Margot with a shrug.  Alana smiles.  

She also has taken to getting the house ready for the baby.  The first thing she does is start remodeling a guest room as a nursery.  Other rooms are gutted as well.  Mason’s room, Papa’s study, the room where the pig had been… all are turned into a blank canvas and emptied of the memories that used to be there.  

The memories still linger though.  As the contractors work, sometimes the noise gets to Margot.  The sounds of tools and machines and all the workers, on bad days they still trigger her startle response and have her flinching.  Margot knows that should she want to talk, Alana is there.  She always there for her, and that is a feeling that takes getting used to as well.  

* * *

Psychiatry is Alana’s trade.  No one is better suited to helping Margot and she’s actually a doctor that Margot trusts.  But she’s gone over her family history and incidents so many times that just thinking about it all makes her tired.  Alana has seen Mason’s work first hand, knows that what Margot recounts aren’t exaggerations or tales spun looking for sympathy and attention, as Papa would have most believe.  Alana doesn’t offer comfort in the way of therapy sessions but in support.  She helps remodel the study, go through all the paper work and uncover all of Papa and Mason’s shady dealings, getting everything in order.  

That’s not to say that Alana doesn’t have bad days of her own.  There are days where between Hannibal’s baiting, Fredrick’s snooping, and whatever Freddie Lounds happens to be conjuring up, Alana comes home some nights having reached her wits end before noon.  Alana is used to her own night terrors where Hannibal’s steps echo behind her and there is so much blood.  There’s a blood trail that Alana follows, frightened that it will lead to Margot and their son only to discover that it’s her own.  But when she wakes, Margot’s presence next to her is enough to calm her, her breathing soothing back to sleep.  Because Abigail is at peace finally and she has all five keys to the doors between Hannibal and the outside world.  

When Margot wakes from her nightmares, her hands and eyes frantically search Alana for any signs of injury in between scanning the room for her brother.  Alana calmly assures Margot that she and the baby are both fine, because it’s the only thing that will get Margot to relax.  With Alana’s fingers going through her hair and listening to her heartbeat, Margot is eased back into slumber, no longer thinking that she hadn’t been fast enough to get the gun from Mason, the squeal of pigs ringing in her ears mixed in with Alana’s screams, Cordell walking away with their baby to hand him over to Mason, or whatever else her mind could torment her with.  

But the lingering ghosts are fading.  Hannibal remains in his cell, and a new era in the Verger family has begun.  


	5. Max

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The baby

Margot is a wonderful mother, Alana never had any doubt that she would be, but she’s not the type most might envision.  Although nothing about their baby and how he came to be is exactly traditional, so maybe that’s to be expected.  

When it comes to baby names, Margot’s first choice comes from a children’s book.  Where the Wild Things Are.  Alana supposes there are worse influences than Maurice Sendak, but the story still rubs her the wrong way.  Then there’s the line:  _Oh please don’t go, I’ll eat you up I love you so_.  It reminds her of Will and Hannibal more than she’s comfortable with.  Unfortunately, it’s also Margot’s favorite book to read to the baby even before he’s born.  But even without telling her Margot knows.  They’re stretched out on the couch, Alana across Margot’s lap as she reads aloud, her fingers sometimes drawing patterns on her belly between flipping pages.  Margot reads the line and Alana keeps her face impassive but Margot rubs her tummy.  

“It’s a children’s book.  The non cannibalistic nature is implied and a given.”  Still, she leans closer to Alana’s belly and whispers “don’t take that literally” prompting Alana to laugh and smack her shoulder.  Margot then starts reading a book about a red smooshed faced lion and a brass monkey that does nothing but confuse Alana ( _Where did you even find that book?_ ), so there are worse things.  The name “Max” sticks though.  

“Is there a thing about Vergers having names that start with M?” asks Alana jokingly.  Margot looks stricken for a moment, but the look quickly passes.  

“There was Grampa William” says Margot and quirks her lips when Alana makes a face.   _That_  particular name was  _never_  in the running.  

* * *

Margot is a wonderful mother.  Alana can’t help but laugh at the shocked and incredulous look on Will’s face when she tells him.  

Margot is lighter now that she isn’t plagued by constant fear.  She’d spent her life building walls and is now slowly letting others besides Alana see her without them.  The old Margot used even her clothing as armor, trying to blend in and belong, yet still show her worth to the males in her family.  Now, Margot relaxes in jeans, paints the nursery in one of Alana’s old t shirts, no longer dressing so sharp that it makes her seem unapproachable.  Some days Alana will sometimes come home to find Margot eating Frosted Flakes or Fruit Loops by the handful from the box sitting on the counter in an oversized shirt and jeans.  She’s so relaxed and free of the ghosts that used to haunt their home.  

It was never just about the money.  It may have been before, but with each other and their plan for a family, it stopped being just about the money some time ago.  Margot idly comments that maybe that’s why none of her plans worked.  It’s not that Alana is doing this as a favor, it’s that they actually care about each other, love each other, to the point where they could see having a family together.  The baby isn’t a pawn.  Alana has video of Margot playing with the baby’s toes and nuzzling his tummy, but she’s not showing that to Will.  

“ _Good for me, I carried him.  He’s my son._ ”  

Motherhood had taken them both by surprise in many ways, despite all their preparation.  Margot had no worries when it came to nature versus nurture, sure that whatever she lacked, Alana would more than make up for.  Empathy, compassion,  _love._  They would be sure to teach their son and raise him with everything that Mason lacked.  Alana isn’t worried though, without her walls, Margot has all those qualities.  

Still, when Will tells her that he and Hannibal spoke of family, it makes one of Alana’s lingering worries fester again.  

“ _I gave you a child, if you remember._ ”  

Hannibal asks after Margot every so often, and she does her best to not let it get under her skin, but she can’t help but wonder if Hannibal believes he gave them a son.  Margot has had alarm systems installed all over their home and kept her father’s guns.  They’ve done everything they can to protect themselves from Hannibal down to Alana having the keys that keep him confined.  However, Alana knows Hannibal keeps his promises.  If he comes for her, she’s ready to fight, but it’s her family that still worries her, because as she reminded Will, last time it hadn’t ended with him.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> http://littlesolo.tumblr.com/post/127765712826/max


	6. Frederick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alana's thoughts on Frederick Chilton

Alana brings him flowers like he did when he came to visit her.  He'd brought her white flowers where she'd picked a multicolored assortment as more of an after thought.  

She has no shock or revulsion at Frederick's new appearance because where he has skin grafts, bandages, and a hyper baric chamber, she'd had a fractured pelvis, bruises, and metal rods holding her together.  She's used to the doctor's carefully choosen words and slim chances.  All due to the manipulations of Hannibal Lecter through the traumatized Abigail Hobbs and in this case a delusional Francis Dolarhyde.  

 _You were the roper_.  

She'd known the plan, yes, but all she'd done was meet him at the door.  The veil had been lifted since their last meeting with Hannibal.  He was no longer one of their esteemed colleagues, but a serial killer.  The Chesapeake Ripper.  But Frederick was a lot like Freddie Lounds in that Hannibal had been very good for both of their careers and bank accounts.  

* * *

Alana would have had to have been a fool to want in on any part of this.  With Hannibal's promise to kill her already weighing on her, she had no desire to endear herself to another serial killer.  She'd said as much to Will.  While he'd been spinning his plan to Jack and she'd been pointing out the obvious, he'd given her that look of his.  That look that Jack attributes to his talent for envisioning murder.  Except this time it's aimed at her.  

Will has changed.  He's no longer someone she feels comfortable sharing things with and thankfully Jack seems to pick up on this.  Will had asked if she was still with Margot sometime back.  Marriage was quite a commitment to someone.  Yes, it was safe to say they were "still together".  Jack had been invited to the house.  When Max was first born he could practically fit in Jack's palm.  Margot was still uncomfortable with Will, the reminder of her desperate past and her previous attempt at motherhood, but Will wasn't someone Alana wanted anywhere near their son.  

What does Will see when he looks at her now?  She knows he's married too know and has a son of his own.  Is he simply trying to drag her in it all as deep as he is?  

Too bad.  

 


	7. Escapes - Margot's POV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Margot's planned many escapes. She'd planned countless from Mason but never acted on any of them. This time when she planned one for herself she was going to act on it, but she was bringing her family with her.

All it had taken was one look from Alana when she got home and she knew they were leaving. 

Margot had had a set of bags packed and ready for them all ever since Will Graham had made his reappearance.  So this had been coming.  

Alana had been standing in the doorway to Max's bathroom, watching as Margot did her best to give Max his bath while Max tried to splash Margot as much as possible.  Alana laughs when Max figures out that scooting back and forth in the tub makes a pretty effective tidal wave.  Margot is now drenched and glaring at Alana as water drips from her hair and Max giggles behind her.  

"Okay you, let's try to keep the water in the tub, huh?" asks Margot with an arched eyebrow and a smirk.  That's when one of their security men knocked on the door frame from out in the hallway and told Alana about Frederick Chilton's encounter with the Red Dragon.  He'd told Alana of it in hushed tones but Margot could read her face.  

Alana liked to help people, Margot knows this, but Will Graham had also been her friend.  It's why Alana looked after Will's dogs when he couldn't.  Margot can see wanting to help someone but Will seems to be drawn back to Hannibal time and time again, even without Jack Crawford's influence.  

They have a family now and friends.  Brian Zeller calls Max and Jack "Rocket and Groot", names that go right over Max's head but Brian's assurance that they're super heros is enough for him.  He's also thrilled at the Guardians pajamas Brian gets him and they become him favorites.  Jack is less thrilled at being compared to a tree.  Jimmy Price tends to have a sixth sense for building or inventive toys that Max loves.  Jack seems to love getting Max stuffed toys that are about as big as Max is.  He looks adorable touting them around the house with him.  

Alana told her that Will has a family too now.  Margot has trouble picturing it.  Why did he leave them behind or at least send them away somewhere safe before coming back?  He has that lovely scar from a bone saw across his forehead not from her brother, but from Hannibal.  Did he really think a special glass cell would keep him from trying to finish the job?  That the pattern of the Toothfairy or Red Dragon or whatever the deluded killer wished to be called, did he think he wouldn't become a pawn somehow?  Granted, Margot hadn't seen the guy calling Hannibal coming, but who knew what to expect.  Evil was tenacious.  

However, it's also why Margot isn't all that worried when they hear that Will and Hannibal are in the wind.  They half expected it and had planned on leaving this morning anyway after Alana told her of Will's plan.  Alana had no desire to be anywhere near the hospital when Hannibal was moved for transfer.  With the Red Dragon on Hannibal and Will's tail, Margot figures it won't be long.  They'll go and vacation up near Alana's brother Aaron for a while.  

Because Margot is willing to bet money that this either ends with either the exceedingly slim chance that Will comes out alive, or more likely, all three men destroy each other.  

Either outcome suits her just fine.  


	8. Escapes - Alana's POV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's not running, it's protecting what matters most.

Due to her two story fall through a window, there's not a lot she can remember about that night with absolute certainty.  The events would swirl through her mind, distorted by the pain medication they pumped her with as they rushed her to surgery.  The hard part of separating what was real from mere nightmare would come later.  But there are things she remembers vividly.  The sound of Hannibal's footsteps softly following her, Abigail's apology, the ice cold rain as it hit her face.  But the clearest is Hannibal's threat.  

 _Be blind Alana.  Don't be brave._  

It was the kind of thing that left a lasting impression.  The kind of promise that lingered in the back of one's mind and was constantly whispered so that it was never forgotten.  

So when Alana met Margot, she was upfront about her reasons for teaming up with Mason.  As things grew more serious between them, she made sure Margot remembered the promise too.  Alana reminded Margot before they started trying to get pregnant.  She warned her again before she proposed.  She had explained that taking the job at the hospital was her best bet for making sure Hannibal couldn't follow through even if it was still a risk.  She'd always given Margot the option of walking away, even taking Max.  She just wanted them safe.  Every time though, Margot would just gently shake her head and give her a little smile.  

"Like you listened when I warned you about Mason?  What he might do and was capable of if he found out about us?"  

But while Margot remains by her side, Hannibal makes sure they remember in his own unique way.  

After Max is born, a crib and rocker set arrive.  Both look to be hand crafted and the detail in the intricate patterns carved into the sides is astounding.  There's no signature on the congratulations card, but they know who it's from.  The meaning is clear as well.  There is no need for more than one chair, Margot would be the only parent Max would ever know.  Alana would live on through stories that Margot told their son as she rocked him to sleep.  When he grew older he would associate his mother with Hannibal's past and having been one of his victims.  Hannibal had a gift for conveying his messages without words.  Margot took an axe to it and burned it in a large bonfire out back.  "If he asks, tell him it smelled lovely as it burned" trew Margot over her shoulder as she threw the last few bits into the crackling flames.  

On Mother's Day they would recieve a boquet of white calla lilies.  There would always be one at the front with a bent stem, symbolizing a person's death before their time.  Alana would always throw them out, but for a moment it would put a damper on the day.  

However there is one thing that Hannibal couldn't have anticipated coming from his promise.  Alana is a bit freer than she used to be.  Rather than pouring over files in her office, she spent time at home building blanket and pillow forts with Max.  She'd curl up with Margot and watch Max run past, a stuffed animal in his arms and Applesauce following behind with a toy of her own in her mouth.  Either she or Margot always read him a story before bed, even if it meant they got to bed later themselves after finishing thier own work.  

The helicopter takes off with Max and his stuffed bunny nestled between her and Margot.  At work Alana makes sure the monsters stay in their cages but at home she is a mother and wife.  She's seen what happens without that separation.  She thinks of Jack, who only realized his wife was sick through a case they'd been working.  Of Will, who becomes so lost in his own mind.  He's found someone for himself, a family with Molly and Walter, but had come back to tangle with Hannibal again.  She's hopes that by leaving she can keep history from repeating itself.  Let Jack and his team wrangle the monsters this time without her.  

Will might call this running but Alana sees it as protecting what is most important.  She owes that to her family.  She lets out a sigh and rests her head on Margot's shoulder.  Her brother Aaron will be meeting them when they land.  


	9. Endings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was as Margot expected but the feelings aren't

For Margot, the news of Hannibal and Will's death was expected.  She had been sitting next to Alana in bed when Jack Crawford had called the morning after their escape about Dr. Du Maurier.  A table set for three.  That had been a shock but also all the assurance that Margot needed that Alana was safe, that they all were.  That it was fine to be spending time with Alana's brother Aaron instead of hidden away somewhere.  Hannibal wasn't the type to let a meal of his go cold on the table.  

What she hadn't expected following their bodies washing ashore was the return of a feeling she'd thought she had burried and of unexpected sorrow.  Margot actively tried to avoid thinking about how much of her life was due to Hannibal.  Her wife, her son, her brother's death.  Granted she and Alana had actually been the ones to kill him, but it was Hannibal who had taken the blame and encouraged her from the beginning.    
Her best relationship with the opposite sex happened to be with a serial killer and the man who follows him in a love hate relationship.  

Go figure.  

But both men were the first to listen.  To listen to her without judgement.  Both unafraid of Mason's influence and had even tried to help her in their own way.  

They were also monsters, she knows this too.  

Hannibal is a monster worse than her brother, one that her brother tried to emulate because his own plans had proved not twisted enough.  Will Graham...When she met him it was after he'd been proven not to be the Chesapeake Ripper.  Then again, he had freely admited to her that he had tried to kill Dr. Lecter.  Alana had told her of his ability to take apart a crime scene and maybe that had gotten to him, it certainly had too take it's toll, but was it also his association to Hannibal?  

This aspect worries Margot most because the same could be said of her and Mason.  Not just of the years he spent tormenting her, but all the time she spent devising ways to kill him.  The monsters not only hurt them but poisoned their minds.    
They made them monsters too.    
Maybe that's why she's always been indifferent towards Will, she's never known the man he was before.  She only knows that Alana still sees glimpses of him now and still thinks that's worth saving.  

Margot is watching Alana get teased by her brother on the porch when Max crawls up onto the couch next to her with the book she chose his name from.  She holds the book while he points to the words and turns the pages while she reads aloud.  

She always hoped her son would be like the one in _Where The Wild Things Are_ , able to distinguish between monsters.  That she would only ever extend her claws and bare her fangs in his and his Mother's defense.  See that not all monsters are scary.  Not in the way Will Graham did, but then the boy in the story had enough sense to leave the monsters behind and go home.  

She knows the words to this story by heart and loves that it's become Max's favorite too.  She knows she can tell Alana anything and for the most part she does but the children's book helps her when things get hard.  Yes, she worried about their son being partly Mason but between Alana and Aaron, the Bloom side has things covered.  The hard part were the doctor appointments because any medical facility made her nervous.  The birth itself was especially hard.  Alana need her there, holding her hand and being there for support, but despite all the staff there, Margot found herself back in the operating theater with Mason above her, unable to move.  

Aaron peeks over the back over the couch at Max who squeals with laughter.  

"Who's this?  A boy who needs to be tucked in?  I wanna do it!" announces Aaron, clutching Max to his chest as he spins in place.  Max grins and wraps his arms around his Uncle's neck as he gets carried off to bed.  

Alana would never call her a monster, Margot knows this, and maybe she isn't anymore.  Maybe that part of her died when her brother died and with Hannibal gone too, they are finally free of all their tormentors.  


End file.
